Chapter Five -

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A/N - Hiya! No I'm not dead. Very very sorry for the wait but I was at my parent's house all month and the chapter was only half finished.

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Review Responses:

ladywolf(Terri - Yes it is awfully cute. Thank you.

Katarina - Sorry didn't mean to offend.

Dark Magician Girl / Hikaru - I dunno what you thought Ryou's going to get into but you're going to find out right about ..... Now!

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Ryou rang the bell outside Marik's apartment and the door clicked open automatically.
The flat was far bigger than he expected and was decorated stylishly in white with expensive looking artworks at every available space.

"Hey squirt! Glad you came." said Marik as he emerged from the living room.
"Drink?"

"Er...no thanks." said Ryou "So, are you going to tell me what this job is or is it another of your 'hilarious' pranks?"

"Don't be an idiot, of course I'm serious." said Marik angrily "Now sit down, I'll be with you in a minute."

Ryou waited patiently in the living room for a few minutes, a few shufflings and cuss words were the only things that signified the other man's presence. A few minutes later Marik emerged with a large rucksack in one hand and a whiskey in the other.

"OK. The first thing I want you to do is to take this to the warehouse opposite pier twenty three on the docks at eleven tonight. Tell the people there I sent you and the man there will swap you for an identical bag which you will bring back here at midnight. Come in through the fire exit in the next street and don't open either of the bags. Do I make myself clear?"

"Why? What's so important about them?" asked Ryou.

"Just do it, brat!" Marik snapped. "I'll pay you when you get back."

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It had truly been an unusual night. Ryou left the flat a few hours later after being fully briefed on his so called 'errand'. The man in the warehouse had looked at him suspiciously before they finally swapped bags and Ryou went on his way while the other man counted each of the bundles of unmarked bills that were in the bag. He got back in the rented car Marik had given him and took the long way back to the apartment.

The street he was driving through looked familiar for some reason. Ryou almost kicked himself. Of course the damn place looked familiar, it was Bakura's street! It looked so much worse at night. His own apartment block was far from luxurious but at least the other residents didn't look like they were going to stab you at the first given opportunity. He wondered if Bakura was at home and wondered whether eleven thirty at night was too late to pay him a visit. He didn't have to wonder long though because his said friend was at the end of the street with his gang of cronies. Ryou remembered some of them vaguely from school, most of them had beaten him up at some point. He slowed the car to a halt and honked the horn.

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"Hey! Bakura! Your 'boss' wants you!" Honda jeered when he saw who was in the car.
"Probably wants you to do some overtime, know what I mean!"

"Yeah, give the little faggot a few sexual favours and you might just get a pay rise"
said Malik gleefully.

"Fuck off!" shouted Bakura as he got up to leave. He appeared unfazed but inside he seethed at the comment. "At least I actually have a job which is more than I can say for you losers."

"Have fun!" the others taunted and laughed knowingly.

Bakura gave his friends the finger as he slipped gracefully into the car and they drove away from a cascade of abusive language.

"Hiya. Did I interrupt something?" asked Ryou.

"No. We were just damaging a few brain cells." Bakura replied fiddling with the bag by his feet. "So anyway, I was thinking about this Game Shop and I think we need to upgrade the image a bit. You know, jazz things up and give the customers something to remember us by."

"Sounds great, but I'm afraid we can't really start until I get some more funding." said Ryou. "That's why I've started working for my cousin, Marik."

Bakura undid the bag and his jaded eyes widened at the contents. "Umm...Ry? This work you're doing. Does it involve collecting strange bags from the docks, by any chance?"

"Yes, why?"

"I think you'd better pull over."

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Bakura eyed the three kilos of white powder that lay on the desk in the Kame Game Shop's office. Ryou paced around obviously having a panic attack.

"Cocaine! Marik deals in cocaine! What was he thinking! What if got caught! I could go down for eight years for this!"

"Well, of course Marik's a fucking drug dealer! You don't buy three kilos at once for you own personal use. Now just calm down and think about this. This stuff is worth thousands. We can..."

"No! Kura!" cried Ryou "We are not stealing this stuff. If the police don't get us then Marik definitely will!"

"OK! OK! Bad idea!" said Bakura holding his hands up in defeat. "We'll put it back and give to Marik."

"That's better."

"And the next time he asks you to make a delivery, we'll steal the cash that he gives you to take to the docks." said Bakura triumphantly.

"Kura!"

"Don't worry, I'll protect you! And we'll pay him back in no time from all the profits we're going to make." Ryou was silent "Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

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They walked out into cold of the autumn night. Bakura's friends had followed them from the other side of town and were approaching with their usual loudness and foul language.

"Hey Bakura! There's a rave over at the old Taisho building, you coming?" yelled Jou from down the road.

"Yeah OK!" Bakura shouted back then turn back to Ryou who was trembling so hard that the bag in his hands gave a muffled rattle. "Stop worrying. I won't let anything happen to you. Just take the stuff back and stay out of trouble." That didn't seem to inspire much confidence in the boy so Bakura grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into a chaste kiss in the half shadows before sauntering off to join his friends, an unseen grin plastered on his face...